Economics of the First Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving. It's fortunate for us that William Bradford figured out quickly why his socialist experiment didn't work. From Professor Paul Rahe:

We have much to learn from the history of the Plymouth Plantation. For, in their first year in the New World, the Pilgrims conducted an experiment in social engineering akin to what is now contemplated; and, after an abortive attempt at cultivating the land in common, their leaders reflected on the results in a manner that Americans today should find instructive. . . .

The moral is perfectly clear. Self-interest cannot be expunged. Where there is private property and its possession and acquisition are protected and treated with respect, self-interest and jealousy can be deployed against laziness and the desire for that which is not one's own, and there tends to be plenty as a consequence.

But where one takes from those who join talent with industry to provide for those lacking either or both, where the fruits of one man's labor are appropriated to benefit another who is less productive, self-interest reinforces laziness, jealousy engenders covetousness, and these combine in a bitter stew to produce both conflict and dearth.

Follow the link for details of what happened when the Pilgrims tried, then abandoned, their socialist experiment. The desire for fairness seems to be implanted in us. But imposing economic fairness typically seems to lead to less generosity and less to share.

Interestingly enough, the kinds of religious communities which have been more effective at communal living than the Pilgrims were - monasteries, etc. - were special targets for destruction by the Soviet empire which, theoretically, wanted everyone to follow similar communal practices. Was this because the religious communities were voluntary and independent?

I wonder if our government will come down on the Amish soon for their religious position that insurance is non-scriptural? Some Democrats are already at war with the American Catholic Bishops over the proposed Health Care Reforms. Democrats might be willing to see Catholic hospitals shut down for unwillingness to perform elective abortions and other procedures which are morally repugnant to them. But I think the image of a bunch of Amish farmers in "Pelosi Prisons" for refusal to buy health insurance would be a bit much for them.

The "politically correct" can sometimes tolerate a marginal group, like the Amish, thinking differently from them, but they cannot abide a mainstream group, like Catholic Bishops, which do not accept their politically-correct priorities.

Despite all this political turmoil, we still have much to be grateful for.